With The Coming of the Dawn

Summary

The hunters become the hunted when a creature stalks a remote community, and one of the brothers has a choice to make. Will both brothers survive the hunt and the decision of the other?

Disclaimer

Feel a bit like a broken record when I say this but shock, horror! Nope, still not mine, but my what fun I would have if it was …sighs…

Author's Note

Please read and review. Only had a few for the last chapter- was it not any good? Well hoping you like this one...

This one is a little shorter but the next chapter more than makes up for it, just couldn't resist ending it where I have...lol!

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Chapter 16

Dean grabbed the shotgun and glanced at his knife that he had found in the kitchen. His brother had been busy, a second note had been found with the knife.

Dean

Have plated one of your knives in silver. I have also left 3 silver bullets that I have made. Figured could have some effect since we are looking at some kind of changeling.

Be safe

Love

Sam

Dean's eyes hardened further. He was so going to kick his brother's ass when he caught up with him. He had pulled some stunts in his time but this; this was one of his dumbest! And then he was going to hunt the Demon down that had caused his brother so much pain. And kill it, slowly.

He buried his growing terror on what was happening to his brother behind the hunter's mask he had grown accustomed to wearing during those years when Sam was at college. His face was hard and unyielding, a fierce determination seeming to burn from within.

Missouri watching form the doorway caught a glimpse of the terrible hunter that Dean could become without his brother's gentling influence. In many ways Sam was his conscience, his moral compass. And Missouri feared that if anything happened to the younger hunter, the elder's pain would cause the hunt to consume him.

"Missouri? Tell me more about this and how it can help?" He tapped the leech stone.

"It's connected to Sam, so I'm hoping we can use it like a dowsing rod, to guide us to him"

Dean was feeling strange. He couldn't quite place the sensation but it reminded him of an earlier hunt when a poltergeist had pinned him on 6 inches of steel from a metal fence and the hospital had put him on morphine. It was the same feeling of detached pain. There was a remote pressure on his lungs and his head was buzzing. His eyes became unfocused as a sudden pain flashed through his head, almost causing his knees to buckle with its intensity.

Missouri heard him suck his breath in sharply.

"Dean honey? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Maybe Sam's incredibly stupid plan didn't work after all?" But Dean didn't really believe it, and he would bite his tongue off rather than say it but his brother was rarely wrong. Annoying yes, but a damn good researcher nonetheless.

Missouri put a hand to his forehead and reached out with her abilities. What she found amazed her. Dean was no psychic, she knew this, and so what she was sensing wasn't possible - normally. Then again the Winchesters were anything but normal. Perhaps it was because Sam's abilities were so unusually strong, or because of the bond the brothers shared, or perhaps just the lingering effects of the leech stone. But Dean's mind was unconsciously reaching back out to his brother and was picking up Sam's symptoms.

"Dean" She hesitated. "It's not you – you're picking up what is happening to Sam, an echo of his pain"

"How?"

Missouri thought it best to gloss over this for now "It's likely to be a combination of the stone, the poison and Sam himself, but there is a connection you can follow."

"Me?" Dean sounded sceptical.

"I'm a bit old to be running around and would only slow you down if we have to go on foot. I'll come with you as far as I can."

"That's not what I meant – I'm not a fr – I'm not psychic"

"True, but you do at the moment have a psychic connection with your brother. We can use that to find him"

"What are we going to do Missouri? If this is only an echo, what the hell is he going through?"

"You need to concentrate, to centre yourself and focus on Sam"

"If you are trying to get me to pull of some Yoda-Jedi mind crap thing, you have the wrong brother" Dean said, trying to mask his trepidation.

Missouri cracked him across the back of his head. "Ow! What?"

"Don't question your elders' boy, and do as you're told. Sit down"

Dean surprised himself by obeying. Besides his head was still ringing from Missouri's slap. Man, she had one hell of a swing.

"You better believe it boy. Now close your eyes and concentrate on your brother. Picture him in your minds eye; imagine his face, the sound of his voice. You need to keep that image firmly in place"

Dean visualized his brother in his mind - from the too long, rich, dark hair to the warm hazel eyes that could be used with devastating effect when he wanted to. Sam's face that still despite everything held that trace of innocence. He could see his brother's bright, dimpled smile that always managed to lift Dean's spirits, an expression that said he was home. He pictured his brother's aggravatingly lank yet surprisingly strong frame, (considering he was a beanpole), the long legs that much to his elder brothers chagrin could easily out run him. Dean could hear his brother's soft earnest timbre (probably arguing with me or Dad), he snorted.

"Now keep that picture firmly in your mind and open your eyes". Missouri had led him to the front door and opened it. "Where is your brother? Don't think, feel"

Dean didn't tell Missouri, though she could probably pick it up if she wanted, but it was the same sensation he had always felt when Sam was nearby. It was if there was a bright gossamer thread stretching from him to his brother.

Unerringly, he pointed out towards the forest to the north. "There"

Missouri grabbed the keys of the 4 x 4 she had hired. "Get in the car Dean"

They travelled as far as they could by car, speeding through the lighter trees at an unnerving speed. Dean was impressed- he was surprised at how well Missouri drove.

"Did you think I was always old boy?" Dean was not going to answer that question in a million years.

Soon the trees became denser as they passed the Mill and headed deeper in and eventually they had to abandon the car. They heard the bark up ahead.

"You go on honey, I'll catch up"

"You should head back Missouri, it's not safe out here"

"And leave you boys? Do you want another smack Dean?"

The elder brother handed her his handgun with the silver bullets – "Aim for the heart". Then to both their surprise Dean gave her a peck on the cheek and hurried off. Dean tore through the forest; it was as if something had aimed him like an arrow. Stealth was cast aside in favour of speed. He didn't care what heard him - his brother had been left alone in his pain for too long.

Not only was Dean now picking up Sam's physical pain but also he was also feeling his emotional anguish and the overwhelming guilt within his brother. This terrified him even more than the physical danger. Physical pain and injuries they could overcome, but emotions, the Winchester family had never been comfortable with or adept at dealing with emotional issues. They were buried, ignored, pushed aside. But Dean knew that they couldn't this time. He could feel Sam seesawing above an emotional abyss and knew that one wrong move could topple him over.

Dean stumbled hard against a tree, gasping as he felt the vision of his apparent death and the resultant psychic backlash from his brother. Overlapping the snow-covered landscape he saw an image of him lying in bed, his throat slashed open, and his eyes wide and unseeing.

The sound of his brothers scream echoed in the forest around him and the hair on the back of Dean's neck rose at the complete and utter devastation, the desolate sorrow, he felt from his young brother. "No" he whispered as he felt Sam suddenly shut down, the emotional overload too much for his brother. He felt darkness consume Sam and blindly tried to reach out. "Sam? I'm here, I'm still here"

"No you don't Winchester" A voice snapped out and Dean felt a sudden intense pain which drove him to his knees as the psychic connection snapped; severed by the demon, to leave his brother utterly alone.

Dean rose shakily to his feet – he didn't need the connection to tell him where his brother was - he could see a clear trail in the direction of Sam's scream. Ahead of him he heard a snarl followed by a gunshot and he surged forward, running as if his life or something infinitely more precious, depended on it. He poured on even more speed when a second shot rang out followed by absolute silence.

Dean rounded the bend, ahead he could see a break in the trees and some urgent sense pushed him forward.

The scene that met him filled him with horror.

"Oh God no, Sammy, no" he pleaded, crashing down on his knees besides his fallen brother.

Sam lay on his side, one arm outstretched towards the dead body of the creature, his hand clenched. Dean's t-shirt was crimson with blood oozing from his chest and shoulder wounds, the creatures claws still embedded in him. Sam's eyes were wide open, staring out from a face too pale and devoid of life; the blank unblinking gaze transfixed his brother, pinning, accusatory…he was too late.

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A/N – is it safe to come out yet? Please don't hate me...and please review! I need to know what you guys are thinking...hoping you are still enjoying this. I am seriously fretting and am counting on you wonderful reviewers to let me know if I am going wrong, or hopefully getting it right.

soooo...

Can anything be done to save our reluctant hero?

Is this the end for the two brothers?

Could I sound any more like a Batman ending if I tried…?

Please read and review and I will update in the next day or so…..